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2014 Victorian Closed Titles


words - Mitchell McLellan
photos - Paul Feely
9 December 2014
 

Troy Alger and Kyle Rethus were the big winners from the Victorian Closed State Titles at Cobden on the weekend, both taking double victories in their respective classes.

  • Over 1300(!) photos on Paul Feely's Picasa HERE
  • and lots of photos in Paul's Facebook album HERE

Alger took his maiden state championship in Junior Max where he had early race battles with Tom Hughes. Alger made the move for the lead and was able to hold a gap until the end and take his maiden state championship! Alger then went on to dominate the Junior National Heavy category to take his biggest karting win to date.

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Troy Alger #13 hugs the inside in JNH
pic - Paul Feely

Rethus took a convincing win in the Clubman Light category where he was defending his 2013 crown. Rethus had his work cut out in TaG Light where he was able to open up a margin on the field until Zac Soutar got into second and chased after the local boy. Soutar closed down the margin but Rethus hung on for his third state title in a year.

Dylan Hollis, Oscar Piastri and Sean Larkin finished their stellar 2014s in convincing fashion by taking wins in their respective classes.

Hollis had early challenges from Aaron Cameron and Oscar Piastri before he was able to break away from the chase group. Hollis has had a stellar year winning state titles and a national title as well.

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Junior Clubman winner Oscar Piastri #81 battles with runner-up Spencer Ackermann
pic - Paul Feely

Larkin had a race long battle with Cooper Webster with Braydon Callaghan joining them in the later stages. Larkin held on to finish his stellar year with a win.

Piastri had better luck in the Junior Clubman final where he had a race long battle with Dylan O’keefe. Piastri slowly opened up the margin in the final few laps to win another state title in 2014.

Nathan Williams, Ashley Seward and Domenic Pancione took home surprise victories in the Rookies, TaG Restricted Heavy and TaG Restricted Light.

Williams was in one of the races of the weekend and had a race long battle with Josh Smith, Courtney Prince and George Gower. Prince looked as though she had the pace to take the victory but Williams held on for an unlikely victory over his challengers.

Seward had a race long battle with FA stable mate George Michaelides before stretching out to take his maiden state championship.

Pancione rolled the dice in the final by putting slick tyres on a drying track. Pancione got out to a 25 second lead before the rain started to fall. Pancione crossed the line in second but a post-race technical infringement resulted in Pancione taking the win.

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Aaron Hindle #54 beat home Scott King #3 in TaG Heavy
pic - Paul Feely

Aaron Hindle and Phil Smith showed their class and experience in the final to take home the championship in their class. Hindle had a race long battle with Scott King in TaG Heavy with King applying the pressure onto the back of Hindle. A small mistake from King allowed Hindle to open a race winning margin.

Smith had a tense finish in Over 40s to claim his state championship after a late charge from Ian Branson. Both former champions’ traded fastest laps before Smith took his second Victorian closed championships.

Andrew Hayes and Leigh Nicholaou were the other convincing winners at the South West track with neither losing a race on Sunday. Both had earlier challengers before running away with Victory. Nichoulau added another title and trophy to his ever growing tally while Hayes clean swept the weekend in a convincing fashion.

A fantastic meeting overall to round out a great 2014 - congratulations to all the new Victorian State Titles holders!

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Kyle Rethus leads Clubman Light for one of his two victories at the meeting. Brad Marsh #24 runs second.
pic - Paul Feely

  • Results of finals (full results on CMS HERE)

Clubman Heavy: 1 Leigh Nicolaou, 2 Ryan Aitken, 3 Christopher Thomas
Junior Clubman: 1 Oscar Piastri, 2 Spencer Ackermann, 3 Cory Arnett
TaG Restricted 125 Heavy: 1 Ashley Seward, 2 George Michaelides, 3 Anthony Warner
TaG 125 Light: 1 Kyle Rethus, 2 Zac Soutar, 3 Leigh Nicolaou
TaG Over 40s: 1 Phil Smith, 2 Ian Branson, 3 Gavin Harvey
Junior MAX: 1 Troy Alger, 2 Aaron Cameron, 3 Jonathon Bradshaw
TaG Restricted 125 Superheavy: 1 Andrew Hayes, 2 Christopher O’Keeffe, 3 Kevin Hitchcock
Junior National Heavy: 1 Troy Alger, 2 Nicholas Carroll, 3 Bryce Woollard
TaG Restricted 125 Light: 1 Domenic Pancione, 2 James Head, 3 Stefan Moore
Cadets: 1 Sean Larkin, 2 Braydon Callaghan, 3 Cooper Webster
TaG 125 Heavy: 1 Aaron Hindle, 2 Scott King, 3 Jack Woodfall
Junior National Light: 1 Dylan Hollis, 2 Thomas Prascevic, 3 Oscar Piastri
Clubman Light: 1 Kyle Rethus, 2 Bradley Marsh-Stepney, 3 Jordan Nicolaou
Rookies: 1 Nathan Williams, 2 Joshua Smith, 3 Courtney Prince

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: If it wasn't for second in the pre-final, Dylan Hollis #1 would have enjoyed a clean sweep in JNL
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above & Below: Carnage in the TaG Heavy final - Pieter Faulkner #46 and Michael Angwin #99 come together...
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Then, wham! Daniel Rethus #18 arrives.
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: JNH, Simon Fallon ahead of Nicholas Carroll, Braydon Flood and Bryce Woollard
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: TaG Over 40s winner Phil Smith #4 dices with heats and pre-final winner Steven Riddell
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Troy Alger kicks up the dirt in Junior MAX here battling with Aaron Cameron #95
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: (almost) four-wide in TaG Light - #10 Zac Soutar, #34 jordan Nicolaou, #94 Will Hawkes, #97 James Cornfoot with Matt Wall next in #15
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Ashley Seward #3 won TaG Restricted Heavy over George Michaelides #14
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Clubman Heavy, Leigh Nicolaou #14 under pressure from Ryan Aitken #92
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Rookies winner Nathan Williams
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: JNL 3-wide, Dylan Hollis, Aaron Cameron and Oscar Piastri
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Ian Branson grabbed 2nd in the TaG Over 40s final
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Smoke 'em up
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Cadets winner Sean Larkin #4 ahead of Hugo Simpson and Corbin Bailey
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: James McDonald #37 and Joshua de Stefano tri-cycle on the damp track, TaG Restricted Light
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Thomas Prascevic qualified fastest and won the Junior MAX pre-final
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Despite a pre-final DNF, Domenic Pancione wound up the winner of TaG-R Light
pic - Paul Feely

vic closed kart titles 2014
Above: Two nice neat rows of Cadets prepare for their pre-final, Jay Hanson (pole, left of screen) and Emerson Harvey on the front row
pic - Paul Feely

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